Sign



June 16, 1931. w. CARTER SIGN Filed April 25, 1930 lrzvenior William Garter Patented June 16, 1931 PAT mi OFFICE WILLIAM- CARTER, O'F'ISLING'ION, 'LoNnoN, ENGLAND H sIeN Application filed April 25,1930, Serial No. 447,305, and in Great Britain June 18, 1 929.

This inventionrelates to advertising and like signsof the so-called reflex type in which stencils are arranged above an inclined reflecting surface so that light passing down.-.

wards through the stencil is directed through the front of the sign to the eye of the observer, or in which light passing downwards onto an inclined light-reflecting 0r refracting surface is thereby diverted through a stencil v arranged'at the front of the sign.

The inventionhas for its principal object to 'PI'OVIClB an improved, slmple and effective construction of sign of the aforesaid type,

more particularly for useon motor vehicles,

' whereby colour-changing or fiiokering'efiects may be secured in an economical manner by the swaying or'o'ther motionfof the vehicle.

The invention is hereinafter described by to Figure 1 with part of the upper stencil removed; and

Figure 3 is a View similar to Figure 1 illustrating the application of the invention to the second-mentioned type of sign. to

Figures 1 and Qof'the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, the upper part of the casing l of a sign having, an inclined rear '35 wall 2 carrying a reflector 3 bywhich the sign is displayed through an aperture 4: in the front wall 5 of the casing, is modified for the reception of upper andlower duplicated stencils 6, 7 spaced apart orar ranged for the slidable reception of a member constituted by two sheets 8, 9 of glass or the like enclosing between them a transparency 10 or transparencies, such sliding member, as shown in Fig- 7 ure 2, being'of shorter length than the stenoils to allow for the required 'movement of the member to and fro. The glass sheets are held together by adhesive and the transpar encies or colored plates will be firmly held by r and between them sothat the color plates need not be coextensive with the glass sheets In carrying the invention into eflect accord; ing to one constructlon and with reference to provided they have asufiicient area to cover the respectively associated opening of the stencil in all positions of the slide. The stenoils 6, 7 are provided at their inner sides with strips or pieces 11, 11a respectively, of felt or like material betweenwhich the composite member 8, 9,10 slides freely, such strips or piecesof felt 11, 11a being disposed, as shown in Figure 2, adjacent 'to the edges of the juxtaposed. apertures 6a, 7a of the stencils 6, 7 so as to keep the portions of the glass '8, 9whichlco-operate with the apertures 6a,

7a clean. The stencils preferably are of substantially the same length as the casing so as to be held against movement by the end walls ofthe casing but they'may be held stationaryin any preferred or convenient manner.

As shown more particularly in Figure 2, each transparency 10a, associated for example with the mainlettering and devices of the advertisement or the like, may be of a single colour so. that during the movement of the slidable composite member 8, 9, 10 to the limits determined by spring stops or rubber buffers 12 at the ends of-the sign casing, the

colour of suchparts of the stencil does not change. On theother hand, certain parts of the stencil, such as the aperture 6?), may have associated therewith transparencies 10b, "10c arranged: so that in the movement of thecomposite member 8, 9,10 the colour of such parts changes. With the arrangement according to the invention it is also possible i to secure an effective endwise oscillating or moving wavy underl neor-border. Thus, in the example shown, a longltudinal'slot 13 of wavy formation is cut in the respective sten cils 7 and each end of-thetransparency 10(Z, whichmay be constituted by alternating sections of different 'colour,terminat es in an opaque portion 106 so that the overall length of the transparency 10d is somewhat'less than the length ofjthe wavy slot 13 with the result thatio'n movement. of'thecomposite member 8,9, 10. the wavy underline appears to run along or to os'cillateendwise. r

In theapplication of the invention'toa sign of'thejsecond'mentioned type, as shown in Figure 3, the duplicate stencils 6, 7 and the composite member 8, 9, 10 slidable between the strips 11, 11a of felt or like material, are arranged vertically behind the aperture 4 in the front wall 5 of the sign casing, the stencils being supported, for example, in a shallow trough-like formation 17 at the bottom of the casing and at the top by means of a suitable flanged member 18.

\Vhen the sign is mounted upon a vehicle, preferably transversely, the swaying, oscillatory or other motion of the vehicle when running is suliicient to cause the movement of the slidable member to give the colourchanging or flickering effects. however, the movement of the slidable member may be effected mechanically, for instance by the opening and closing of a door.

It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the particular details of construction hereinbefore described. Thus, for example, in the construction of Figure 1, the strips or pieces 11 of felt or the like fixed to the underside of the upper stencil 6 may be dispensed with, while the arrangement of the apertured portions of the stencil and of the transparencies co-opcrating therewith obviously may be modified in various ways to so cure any desired effects.

What- I claim is 1. An advertising sign comprising 2. casing having two open sides at an angle to each other, a reflector in the casing at an angle to the open sides thereof whereby to reflect through one side, a pair of duplicate stencils set in the other open side of the casing, a transparent slide fitted between the stencils for. limited reciprocatiom and color plates on the slice located to cover the re spective openings in the stencils in all positions of the slide, said plates being of various colors. I

2. An advertising sign comprising a casing having two open sides at an angle to each other, a reflector in the casing at an angle to the open sides thereof whereby to reflect through one side, pair of duplicate stencils set in the other open side of the casing, and a slide fitted between the stencils and consisting of two sheets of glass secured together and color plates between the glass sheets, the color plates being of various colors and arranged to cover the openings in the stencils in all postions wherebyto color the light passing through said openings to the reflector.

3. An advertising sign comprising a casing having two open sides at an angle to each other, a reflector in the casing at an angle to the open sides thereof whereby to reflect through one side, a pair of duplicate stencils set in the other open side of the casing, a transparent slide fitted between the stencils for limited reciprocation, color plates on the slide located to cover the respective openings in the stencils in all positions of the slide, said plates being of various colors, and strips of cushioning and cleaning material fixed on If desired,

the inner face of a stencil adjacent the respective openings therein.

4. An advertising sign comprising a casing having two open sides at an angle to each other, a reflector in the casing at an angle to the open sides thereof whereby to reflect through one side, a pair of duplicate stencils set in the other open side of the casing, a transparent slide fitted between the stencils for limited reciprocation, color plates on the slide located to cover the respective openings in the stencils in all positions of the slide, said plates being of various colors, and buffers at the ends of the casing to arrest the move ment of the slide.

5. An advertising sign comprising a casing having two open sides at an angle to each other, a reflector in the casing at an angle to the open sides thereof whereby to reflect through one side, a pair of duplicate stencils set in the other open side of the casing, a transparent slide fitted between the stencils for limited reciprocation, and color plates on the slide located to cover the respective openings in the stencils in all positions of the slide, the col r plates being of various colors.

6. An advertising sign comprising a casing having two open sides at an angle to each other, a reflector in the casing at an angle to the open sides thereof whereby to reflect through one side, a pair of duplicate stencils set in the other open side of the casing, a transparent slide fitted between the stencils for limited reciprocation, color plates on the slide located to cover the respective openings in the stencils in all positions of the slide, the stencil plates having a border opening of undulatory formation, and a color plate fixed on the slide to register with said undulatory opening and of less length than said opening.

WILLIAM CARTER. 

